Sunday, February 21, 2010

Sunday Funday - Eric Heiden

Since the Winter Olympics are still in full swing I thought I would cover another famous Winter Olympic performance by a Cheesehead. Eric Heiden (born in Shorewood Hills, WI just outside Madison) turned in an epic speed skating performance at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.

There were five speed skating events at the 1980 Winter Olympics: 500 meters, 1,000 meters, 1,500 meters, 5,000 meters, and 10,000 meters. Usually speed skaters specialize in either the shorter distances (500 meters, 1,000 meters, and 1,500 meters) or the longer distances (5,000 meters and 10,000 meters). Not Heiden, he specializes in ALL the distances. Here is a run down of Heiden's speed skating performance at the 1980 Winter Olympics:
- 500 meters: won the gold medal in a time of 38,03
- 1,000 meters: won the gold medal in a time of 1.15,18
- 1,500 meters: won the gold medal in a time of 1.55,44
- 5,000 meters: won the gold medal in a time of 7.02,29
- 10,000 meters: won the gold medal in a time of 14.28,13

You read that correctly, Heiden swept the speed skating events at the 1980 Winter Olymics in Lake Placid, New York by winning all five events. To put Heiden's performance in perspective:
- Heiden won 5 of the 12 medals the United States won at the 1980 Winter Olympics.
- Heiden won 5 of the 6 gold medals the United States won at the 1980 Winter Olympics.
- Only two countries (Soviet Union and East Germany) won more gold medals than Heiden at the 1980 Winter Olympics.

With all due respect to Michael Phleps, Eric Heiden had the most impressive all-around Olympic performance ever at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this column, check out last week's Winter Olympics themed "Sunday Funday" column where I covered Dan Jansen's gold medal performance in the 1994 Winter Olympics here.